Nelson S. Bond

“ What I want to know is, do we or don't we try my idea about putting out the Ampie? Johnny, maybe—"
"No!" he said.
"Well, why not? What have we got to lose?"
"No!" he said again. Oh, all right. I guess he was preoccupied and didn't mean to be curt. But his tone rekindled my anger, and I didn't feel any better when Lorraine said, "Please, Sparks, don't bother Johnny when he's trying to figure this out. Go ahead, sugar-plum." ”

“ Lock emergency doors! Get all men into safe sectors!"
Lorraine looked at me worriedly.
"What—what is it, Sparks?"
"Nothing much," I told her grimly, "except that I've just about killed us all. That stuff will ooze through every crack and crevice in the ship, swallow everything just like it swallowed the ship. That's probably what happened to those other explorers. There must have been one dope like me aboard each of them. With a bright idea that—I'm sorry, Mrs. Larkin. I've sure put the final touch on your happy honeymoon."
She was Cap Bowman's daughter; she was the bride of Johnny Larkin. ”

“ I went to my own turret and tried to read a magazine, but I couldn't get interested in the hokey adventures of a Patrolman on Io when I was buried alive in cosmic goo myself. So I fiddled with the dials again for a while. No soap. So pretty soon I got up and looked in my auxiliary cabinet. My Ampie was curled in inside, pale blue and shot full of tiny red sparks, sucking contentedly on an old-flashlight battery. I put on my rubber gloves. I went down to the engine loft.
Ampies live on energy. And Larkin had said the gelatinous mass engulfing us was at least partially composed of energy. ”

“ Bowman cried, "No, son—come back! You'll be killed. Come—"
But he was talking to empty air. Johnny was pounding down the runway. Lorraine sniffed once. Then her jaw hardened. She said, "I'm going after him."
Bowman pushed her into a chair—but hard. He said, "You're waiting here! With us. You'll only be in his way. Johnny's the tech man on this ship. If anybody can save us, he's the one." But as her head lowered, his eyes met mine. And the words were written there, "Not this time—"
Still, we had to do something. ”

“ We can't get loose. We seem to be in something akin to quicksand. Every move we make digs us in a little deeper."
Bowman growled savagely, "If you hadda used common sense instead o' makin' billy-doos with y'r eyes—but this ain't no time to talk about truffles. What do you think? Is this here planet somethin' like Jupiter? Low specific, so we keep fallin' toward the center?"
Johnny said, "I don't believe so. The material about us is peculiar. It seems to be organic. And it has a certain type of inherent energy—"
"Energy?" I yelled. "Hey, then maybe our Ampie can eat us out of here? ”

“ Get a receipt from the Medical Officer, Captain."
"What's his name?" demanded the skipper gloomily. "Saint Peter? Oh, hello, son. Sorry I couldn't get you out of this mess. Where's Lorraine?"
"That's all right," said Larkin. "Maybe everything will be all right. She's home. She wanted to come along but I wouldn't let her. Space is no place for a woman."
Bowman growled, "This is a hell of a honeymoon for you, boy! An' for her, too. Well, we might as well lift gravs. Sparks, get clearance from the port." ”

“ Maybe we—"
I gasped, "Gosh, yes! This red on my face ain't sunburn!"
So, folks, that was that. Oh—one thing more. I was right. That alky odor didn't leave the ship. Don't ask me how we ever got back to Long Island Spaceport.
They told me later we zig-zagged in by way of Mercury and Luna. I wouldn't know. It was just one, long, delirious dream to me. I was two weeks coming out of it.
What a headache! What a hangover! What a honeymoon! ”

“ The Pegasus is preparing to land, and the situation is—"
"Ain't you the smart little numbskull?" snorted the skipper. "Remind me to use your brain for mattress stuffin'. No, dimwit, we ain't landin'. I ain't goin' to set down on this here outlaw planet till I learn what I'm landin' on. The Pegasus ain't goin' to be number four on the missin' list." He beamed complacently. "Me, I'm smart, I am."
Well, so is sunburn. But who loves it. Anyway, I said, "Well, if we're not going to land on Caltech, what's that big thing looming in the visiplate? Green cheese?" ”

“ Caltech VI is apparently inhabited by some sort of gigantic insect, which may be of the bee, the spider, or the ant family. Each of these insects, as you know, possesses the power of secreting fluids which it adapts to its private needs. The ant seals nests and wraps larvae in his, the bee builds hives and makes honey, the spider spins threads wherein to trap its prey. ”

“ We can't air the joint while we're traveling through space. Do you think—?"
But he didn't hear me. For this, after all, was the honeymoon trip of Johnny Larkin. And now, the danger over, he had reverted to type. He and Lorraine looked like a brace of intertwined pretzels.
The skipper coughed. He said, "Sparks? ”